James Webb Telescope Unveils Six Rogue Planets Wandering Through Deep Space

Discovering the Unknown. James Webb Telescope Spots Six Rogue Planets

What would happen to the Earth if you woke up in the morning and found that the sun had actually disappeared and that we move freely in space? We will move in any direction and speed, and what will happen in gravity? I will answer this question for you.

This discovery opened the door to new questions and frontiers in astronomy and the study of the formation of stars and planets, and it may be a new door to other discoveries. In this article, we will learn about the details of this discovery and how it can help in knowing the border between the birth of a star and the birth of a planet.

Six Rogue Planets Detected by James Webb Telescope. A New Era of Space Exploration

• As we said, the James Webb Telescope was able to observe six rogue planets, known as wandering planets or orphan planets, and some scientists include them in the classification of brown dwarfs.

• Rogue planets were given this name because they do not revolve around any star and float in space without day or night in the complete darkness of space.

1. The first reason is that the planet was forced out of the star system it was in because of the gravity of the system it was in. In this case, they call it an orphan planet.
2. The second reason is that from the beginning it formed like this after the process of star formation and was no longer able to relate to the gravity around a particular star in the cloud in which the planet was formed.

In the beginning, stars form in something called a nebula, which is a cloud of gas and dust in space. It is a suitable place for the formation of star systems like the solar system. However, hundreds or even thousands of stars can form there. An example of this is the NGC 1333 nebula, where six rogue planets have been observed.

As we said, the nebula is a cloud of gas and dust, and over time, masses of gas and dust begin to gather together due to gravity, with the passage of millions of years, these masses begin to collapse in on themselves due to gravity, and the temperature begins to rise with rotation, and a star begins to form.

But for a star to form, there is a basic condition: the temperature must be high enough to start nuclear fusion, allowing the star to burn hydrogen. The remaining gas and dust masses begin to accumulate, forming a core and mantle for planets, as well as asteroids and other bodies, similar to the solar system.

• And if this condition is not met, it is not called a star. Therefore, the cloud that forms stars must meet certain conditions of mass, pressure, and gravity to generate enough heat to start nuclear fusion.

• But sometimes this doesn't happen, and there are objects with masses between 13 to 85 times the mass of Jupiter. 

• These are called 'failed stars' or 'brown dwarfs.' They are objects that failed to become stars but are too massive to be classified as regular planets. The heat within them is sufficient to burn deuterium.

• This element is a form of heavy hydrogen, and its fusion requires a lower temperature and pressure than hydrogen, and therefore these objects radiate, but faintly and are not comparable to stars.

1. Either from the contraction and accumulation of a cloud of gas and dust, which is the same way stars are formed.
2. Or from the remains of masses of gas and dust around young stars, such as the case of Jupiter in our solar system.

James Webb Telescope Finds Six Mysterious Rogue Planets Adrift in the Cosmos

Despite the precision and sensitivity of the James Webb Telescope, it has not yet been able to find rogue planets moving without being bound to a star that is less than five times the mass of Jupiter. This suggests that scientists may need further studies to determine if this is the boundary between the formation of stars, rogue planets, and brown dwarfs.

Here comes the question posed by the authors of the research paper about James Webb’s observation of these planets: Could Jupiter have been a second star like our sun in our solar system if the cloud from which the system was composed had a larger mass and suitable conditions?

The James Webb Telescope opened a new door that did not exist before because the James Webb Telescope uses infrared radiation, which is a type of electromagnetic radiation whose wavelengths are longer than ordinary light and cannot be seen with the naked eye.

The great advantage of James Webb is its high sensitivity to infrared radiation, which allows it to detect very faint objects that are difficult to detect with ordinary telescopes, such as rogue planets and small stars that still have dust and gas around them.

• In the group of young stars in the observed nebula, there is a very fertile medium for the formation of small and very faint objects, some of which are low-mass stars and others are brown dwarfs.

• Therefore, the goal of this study was to use James Webb's powerful infrared capabilities to detect objects that might not be visible with less sensitive instruments.

• Therefore, in this study, the James Webb Telescope helped discover the smallest rogue planets so far, and of course, when it collects and monitors more data, we will know and get closer to understanding the dividing line for the formation of stars and planets.

Could these rogue planets have life?

Surely, you will think that the answer is no, of course, because it travels in space without a source of heat like the sun to be suitable for life, and because it exists in complete darkness. The truth is that the answer is not that simple, as the number of rogue planets in the galaxy is not easy to determine accurately because these planets do not reflect any light like normal planets, so they are difficult to monitor.

• Scientists have used microlensing to detect rogue planets as they pass in front of the light from distant stars. This results in light distortion due to gravity, which allows us to identify them.

• For example, In 2011, a study suggested that there may be two rogue planets for every star in the galaxy, meaning approximately 400 to 800 billion rogue planets imagine the number.

• More recent studies have said that there may be a rogue planet the size of Jupiter for every four stars, meaning about 100 to 200 billion rogue planets the size of Jupiter, meaning very huge numbers, but as we said, it was difficult to observe them with regular telescopes.

But life may exist on them other than the form we know. There is a study by an astrobiologist from the Florida Institute of Technology, Manasfi Lingam, which says that rogue planets may have conditions that are conducive to the existence of life, even though the cold of space is extreme and could freeze any potential oceans, but the planet remains protected from the cold with a layer of ice.

What would happen to Earth if the sun suddenly disappeared from the solar system?

Initially, we wouldn't notice any change in sunlight for about eight minutes, because it takes this long for light to travel from the Sun to Earth. If gravity in the solar system were disrupted, Earth would begin to move in a straight line rather than following its orbit, which it currently does at a speed of 30 kilometers per second or 67,000 miles per hour.

However, all humans would die within weeks of the Sun disappearing, as temperatures would gradually drop. In the first week, temperatures would fall to below zero Fahrenheit, eventually reaching below minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit within a year.

• As for plants, if photosynthesis stopped, not all plants would die immediately. Some large trees could survive for decades without sunlight, but eventually, their life would come to an end.

• After a week of the Sun disappearing, temperatures would drop to freezing, which would lead to the extinction of most living organisms, including humans.

• After a few months, the surface of the seas and oceans would begin to freeze, but the deep ocean would remain liquid due to the heat from Earth's core. 

• This would allow deep-sea creatures to survive for thousands of years until all the water eventually turns to ice. In the end, our planet would become frozen and barren in space.

• Therefore, the existence of a solar system and Earth's position at an optimal distance from the Sun, along with its orbit around the Sun, is the reason life exists on Earth.

• If Earth were to become a rogue planet drifting through space, expelled from its solar system, life would no longer exist on it.

In the end, the topic of exoplanets, brown dwarfs, and how systems like our solar system form remains a big mystery. There is still much unknown to scientists that needs to be studied to understand exactly how these systems form and what the boundaries are between stars and planets.